


Death and Redemption in Wuthering Heights and The Monk

by outruntheavalanche



Category: Original Work, The Monk - Matthew G. Lewis, Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë
Genre: Character Death, Death, Essay, Gen, Gothic Literature, Gothic fiction, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Redemption, Sensation Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-12-02 02:51:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11500245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/outruntheavalanche/pseuds/outruntheavalanche
Summary: A paper I wrote for a Brit/Victorian Lit class that looked at good/bad deaths and how Brontë flouted that tradition inWuthering Heights.





	Death and Redemption in Wuthering Heights and The Monk

Death and Redemption in _Wuthering Heights_ and _The Monk_

There are two kinds of death in Gothic fiction, “good deaths” and “bad deaths”.Good deaths are seen as a reward to those pure or innocent souls who have suffered on earth.Antonia of Matthew Lewis’ _The Monk_ died a good death; despite the brutality of her rape and the supposed senselessness, the way Lewis depicts her final moments could be described as beautiful:

> Suddenly, Antonia’s eyes sparkled with celestial brightness: Her frame seemed to have received new strength and animation.She started from her Lover’s arms.
> 
> ‘Three o’clock!’ She cried; ‘Mother, I come!’
> 
> She clasped her hands, and sank lifeless upon the ground (Lewis, 393).

Antonia, the victim, is rewarded through her death.She may have suffered greatly at the hands of the villainous monk Ambrosio, but through her death, she is going on to a better place. Antonia does not have to live out the rest of her days as a defiled woman, and most importantly, she is reunited in death with her mother Elvira.

Now, compare her death to that of Ambrosio.Ambrosio suffers greatly at death, and his death could not be called “good”.While Antonia’s passing is a reward, Ambrosio’s is clearly punishment.Ambrosio’s violent demise is vividly brutal in its depiction, from the stinging insects, to the eagles that tear at his flesh.The worst part of Ambrosio’s death, however, may be this:

> A burning thirst tormented him; He heard the river’s murmur as it rolled beside him, but strove in vain to drag himself towards the sound (Lewis, 442).

Ambrosio is close enough to the river that he can hear it rushing beside him, but he cannot drag himself to drink.In the end, the waters swell and carry Ambrosio’s corpse into the river.He finally reaches the water, but by then, it’s too late for him, and he is swept away.Ambrosio’s death is clearly not a good one.He is a villain who is punished for the actions he commits against others, and eventually, a storm – a storm that could be seen as sanctioned by God – comes to blot his very existence.

In Emily Brontë’s _Wuthering Heights_ , death is not looked at very differently. _Wuthering Heights_ takes it cues from Gothic fiction, and perpetuates the genre’s tropes and mores.While _The Monk_ ’s characters fell on either side of the line, good versus evil, _Wuthering Heights_ ’ characters are much more ambiguous.Each character has good and bad qualities.There are no clear-cut villains or heroes; even Heathcliff has his good qualities.In this instance, the characters of Brontë’s novel are more realistically drawn.Therefore, the way _Wuthering Heights_ utilizes death is different to that of _The Monk_.

Although _Wuthering Heights_ has its fair share of death, from the parents of the protagonists Catherine and Heathcliff, to their own deaths and that of Edgar Linton, and the next generation, the deaths are not what redeem the characters and their actions.The redemption of the past generation’s sins comes in the marriage of young Catherine, daughter of Edgar and Catherine, and Hareton Earnshaw, Hindley and Frances’ son.Young Catherine and Hareton are like a mirror held up to Heathcliff and the first Catherine, but this time the image is slightly different.Whereas Heathcliff and Catherine were trapped by their own actions and their demeanors, young Catherine and Hareton show potential for growth and change. 

Hareton is depicted as uneducated, savage and irredeemable as Heathcliff was, but unlike Heathcliff, Hareton shows a willingness to change. In one scene, Heathcliff orders Hareton to manhandle young Catherine, and throw her out of the room.Rather than handle Catherine violently, Hareton tries to persuade her to leave.When Hareton refuses to follow Heathcliff’s demands, he grows angry with both of them and seizes young Catherine by the hair.“He had his hand in her hair,” Brontë wrote, “Hareton attempted to release the locks, entreating him not to hurt her that once (285).”That particular scene shows young Hareton straddling both sides, that of Heathcliff, his double, and a gentler, more compromising side Heathcliff does not possess.

Young Catherine is also a slightly distorted mirror image of her mother.She exhibits some of the same traits as the elder Catherine.She can be stubborn, impulsive, and arrogant, but the influence of her father, Edgar Linton, seems to have lent her a compassion that could not be found in the elder Catherine.Young Catherine shows compassion toward Hareton, in teaching him how to read.While she is fiery and passionate, she also has a gentle side.Young Catherine is also not afraid to stand up to Heathcliff.In several scenes, the two butt heads, and nearly come to blows.Catherine challenges the “brute,” as she often calls him, and refuses to bow to his demands.While in her mother, this unbending will could be seen as a negative, in young Catherine it is a positive trait.

Through the union of young Catherine and Hareton, not death, the sins and misdeeds of the previous generation are absolved.This generation will not make the same missteps as their parents did.The sins of the previous generation will not be visited upon their children.The two troubled, problematic families, Earnshaw and Linton, merge with the marriage of Catherine and Hareton.The wildness of Wuthering Heights and the culture and civility of Thrushcross Grange are intertwined through this union; the two dissolute halves must be combined to create a viable whole.The two families’ flaws are negated.The savagery of the Earnshaws is tempered by the culture and gentility of the Lintons, while the cowardice of the Lintons meets the bravery of the Earnshaws.

The growth and sanctioned love of the children, Catherine and Hareton, redeem what could previously have only been redeemed through death. Brontë, like many who follow, takes the mores and tropes of Gothic fiction and molds them and reenvisions them to fit her transitional genre. 


End file.
